nanokid

Let me be the first to say that applying for Spring Admission in general was a horrendous idea b/c it's like trying to find a girlfriend in Antarctica (no options), but I'm in a little bit of a sticky situation right now. I've been communicating fairly regularly with my top choice and my status was a little iffy because they didn't know if they could fund me for the Spring (private school --> unaffordable, even for a semester). I have a strong relationship with the professor, my research interests align perfectly, and I've already been over for an informal visit. It now looks like he's found funding and, pending official acceptance by the graduate committee (which seems like a foregone conclusion but it's suspenseful for me nonetheless- it isn't 100% but damn close), I will be in and on a red eye to my new home within the next month. Last November, I accepted an offer close to home (w/ financial aid) to begin NEXT MONDAY and, truthfully, I could never have counted on my top choice to come through for me at the time, so I felt compelled to accept it. It goes without saying that I'll be leaving this program the moment I get the official seal of approval from my top choice. Now that the situation w/ my #1 is a little more clear, should I resign my acceptance and funding to local U before this kicks off? Should I attend this program until my one true love comes calling- just to be sure? I also have no clue what's going to happen with tuition, but I'm guessing that should be returned soon or else I'm responsible.

Don't overestimate the importance of LORs- it's just 1 out of 3 and there are so many other components to your application. A lot of LORs are boring and "standard procedure" anyway (it's not your fault, it's just that not everyone has time to write you a great one- schools understand that), so they all don't need to be amazing. More importantly, I hope this recommender has strong credentials himself, and that is where his value lies. I wouldn't fret too much about the quality of the recommendation since you've known him for 2 weeks (how would the admissions committee know that unless he mentioned it himself- my guess is he won't), but it still shouldn't be too hard for you to get him to write a letter that will capture the right snapshot of you. Outline clearly in the email that you would like him to talk about your passion, capability, and track record in research. As someone mentioned earlier, give him a deadline of 2 weeks before actual deadline. For the record, my most important recommendation came in on the day of the deadline because I gave him the actual deadline date. It required an emergency phone call, but it was taken care of nevertheless

Applying for Spring 2016 Admission in Materials Science & Engineering All of my graduate applications allowed me to self-report my scores, so I was under the impression that was all that was needed. The application was technically "complete" with the self-report. Applying to a total of 8 schools. I have sent the official report to 4 of my schools (for free after the test), and the others (Georgia Tech, Illinois, Ohio State, Tennessee) don't have them yet. GT and Illinois had their deadlines on Oct. 1 and my application status is "under review"...should I still send them in or did I just make a fatal mistake? Thanks

Thanks for your reply...yeah, I definitely won't go around being so unprofessional as to assume "office ladies" haha. I worded it terribly, but I was more so wondering whether it's a better idea to contact a department head or the administrative office regarding such matters? Who could provide a better answer regarding the funding opportunities for incoming students? Is it too bold/direct to ask the department head as opposed to the office?

Hi everyone, Hate to be a cheapskate, but this is roughly $100/application. I'm looking at applying to about 8 schools for Materials Science MS/PhD programs. I only want to be considered for Spring '16 admission, and at basically all of these schools they only accept people on a space-available basis, meaning there may not be any spots for Spring in the first place. I really don't want to send in applications to places where I can't even have a chance of being accommodated, so do I get my money back if I send an app and there was no space? Should I directly contact department heads or office ladies to figure out whether there's space? I know this is partially contingent on individual professors' funding, but how am I supposed to know this in my current position. I haven't settled on the exact 8 schools, but probably Rice, Duke, UT Austin, GA Tech, Tennessee, Ohio State, U of Illinois, and VCU (safety). This is in relative order of preference for what it's worth. Thanks for the help!

Just wanted to chime in here after GRE Rd. 2, and let everyone know how I fared/suggest some things for future test-takers in a similar boat. I studied for the GRE about 3 weeks, taking it for the 2nd time on Sept. 1st after a "failed attempt" on Aug. 4. I started on Sept. 11th. My scores on GRE # 2 were: 155 V, 163 Q after having gotten 160 V, 155 Q, 5.0 AWA in GRE #1. First off, I'll attribute the drop off in verbal to zero practice (besides the full lengths I took) and a lack of focus. My mind was fully on Quant. So, I picked up the Manhattan 5 lb. book and destroyed all the math inside of it in a span of 10 days. I did 1/3 of 1/3 of the math chapters each day, so ultimately I finished all of it in 9 days in a way where I kept everything fresh. By this I mean that I counted the number of questions in each chapter, and did 1/3 of of the questions of 1/3 of the total number of chapters each day. This helped me keep everything fresh in my mind. In addition, I got built up to handle tougher problems since Manhattan kinda constructs their chapters to increase in level of difficulty moving forward. At this point, I took a free Kaplan test and got 164 Q, 163 V. Again, didn't care about verbal...I kept worrying about Quant. I then picked up the ETS GRE book and scored a little lower on Q and V, but still in the 160 range for both. I analyzed all my mistakes and tried to note down the overarching reason for missing the question (not reading completely, not understanding the question, moving too fast, or *GASP* missing/misconstruing the concept). At this point, I felt like I had it all down. The 2 days before the test I did every single Manhattan 5 lb. book problem given as a supplement online...this is an insane number of fresh problems. I felt good as I was missing 0-2 in each section broken down topically, and these sets usually had around 20 problems each. On the GRE: AWA: May have gotten a 5.0 AWA cause I went for a precise composition that was on the shorter side. This time, I rambled a bit more and really drew out my points. I don't care that much. I'm fine with another 5.0. V #1: Felt like I killed the first verbal, apparently I didn't. I usually check my text completion and sentence completion twice cause I don't normally miss those, but I didn't cause I felt too confident, so I strayed from habit and checked my reading comprehension...probably should've stuck to my strategy that worked on the last test. Q #1: Destroyed it. Manhattan had drilled me so well that I was seeing right through the test. I knew when to test what numbers and when to realize that the GRE was throwing me off in a subtle manner. I flew through the first 10 problems in 10 minutes. This leaves me 25 minutes for 10 problems...I take my sweet time on the more complicated ones, carefully using plug-in techniques and reading the weirdly worded questions 3-4 times if needed. The extra time to think about some of the more "chance" problems proves useful. I get through all 20 with 10 mins. to spare, and check each and every one. I doubt that I missed more than 1. Probably didn't. V #2: Who cares, probably messed up. I'm trying to get into engineering graduate school, and I have one decent score to show I'm competent. I get through it. Q #2: Now, this was tough. I have to slow down to get through this section, and I get caught off guard on question #1. Every obscure question type that's in the ETS Guide but hardly anywhere else...this is where I saw it. In reality, this is like 3 questions, but you don't wanna give that up. Obviously, I must have missed like 5 of these to have dropped to a 163 after my stellar first section. I barely finish in time, and along the way I ditch like 2 of them cause I just can't interpret them the way the GRE wants me to. Their wording is so ridiculous sometimes...cost me a question on a category I never miss questions in. I still pull through and feel decently about it thanks to my dedicated practice. I could have done even better had I paid attention to the long way of doing a couple problems. Remember: the short way is not ALWAYS recommended, especially if the long way makes you believe in your answer more. Look for formulas for things you normally wouldn't think you need them for...it's a sure-fire way of getting something right, assuming you know how to apply it. Usually, that's not too bad. V #3: Tired. Crashing from my break-time snack of Welch's fruit gummies. Anxious to see my score all the same...not that great. Test is over. Scores show up, I'm ecstatic that I don't have to take it again. The disparity in Q and V strike me as being odd-looking, I was expecting some more balance. However, I do fit the profile a lot better for the engineering programs I am applying to. A few of them ask you to list your highest score in each section regardless of when you took it anyhow, so that 160 V+163 Q looks great. My advice to everyone on a time crunch with, realistically, 3 weeks to study is to do problems til your hands break. Study your mistakes and everything will become second nature. You will be more vigilant as you read questions, and will be very quick to answer ones that you are especially skilled in (for me, geometry became a piece of cake after practice). You will realize to take things step by step; by this, I mean that you won't see the answer right away, but that's ok. Start by filling in a small piece of info, then something will indefinitely click (keep hands moving, always try questions if you know the topic). As I write this, I notice that the GRE probably did teach me some life skills. Albeit, in a short time. Application season is easy money now, and I'm sending in all 8 of them tomorrow (for deadlines ranging from Sept. 15th-Nov. 15th) for Spring admission. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ABOVE FOR THE ADVICE AND FOR CONNECTING ME TO RESOURCES. I checked out everything y'all mentioned, and felt the 5 lb. book was the most cost effective way to go. It pays off big time if you approach the GRE with a genuine curiosity and interest for learning. No matter what you choose, you need to shore up your weakness and turn your strengths into super strengths, so you can solve the problems you're weak in with a little extra clock. Gluck future GRE test-takers.

Hey everyone, New to these forums. I had a really bad experience today with the GRE, definitely underestimated it. Inexplicably, I just completely dropped the ball on the Quant section. For some background, I just graduated this past May with an engineering degree from a well-respected top public school in VA, and am applying to engineering grad school. I had a 3.6 in college. My prep consisted of taking 5 practice tests (3 scored), and skimming the quant parts of the PR book. All of this was done over about 10 days. These were my practice test scores: Manhattan: 156 Q, 161 V Powerprep 1: 163 Q, 158 V Poweprep 2: 162 Q, 157 V Actual GRE: 155 Q, 160 V I didn't expect to blow the Quant out of the water, but based on those scores I did expect the powerprep to be representative of my actual GRE score. I would have been more than happy with a 160 Q as other parts of my resume are solid. On the test, I got hung up on certain questions and ended up not even getting to properly answer 3 questions on the 2nd sec. I felt incredibly rushed, and know I can do a bit better. I don't think I have the right (time-saving) approach on certain types of questions, so that's probably partially why I got wrecked. In saying that, I MUST take this again both to boost my chances and for pride. Can anyone recommend a test maker's program for quant that can yield results in about a month? Should I go ahead and apply to my programs and update my application with a better GRE score later? A lot of deadlines for Spring admission are fast approaching. For reference, most of the schools (about 5) I'm looking at are in the top 15-50 range rankings-wise and are a good fit for my intended major. Appreciate everyone's advice in advance!